This first session by James Emery White was one of the more academic/philosophical sessions to establish some thinking and foundations of the culture we live in. If you’re not wired as the big thinking/philisophical type I’d still recommend you skim it as there’s good stuff there, but you’ll probably enjoy some of the other sessions more.
Book recommendation– “Serious Times” by James Emery White
The culture we live in
We are entering into a new age of church. Historian Christopher Dawson suggested that there have been six identifiable ages in relation to the Church. Each lasted three or four centuries, and each followed a similar course. He contended that each of these ages began and ended in crisis. The heart of each crisis was an intense attack by new enemies — within and without the church. These attacks, in turn, demanded new spiritual determination and drive by the Church.Without this determination and drive, the Church would have lost the day. We are standing in the middle of another one of those crises, and at the beginning of another age.
Previous generations always had the concept of God.No matter how dark, they wouldn’t have thought to have a world without God. A world where we start with ourselves and look to develop truth from there. But this is what we have in the world around us. The issue is not philosophical atheism – where people are aware of the arguments, think it through, debate, and come to a philosophical conclusion that there is no God. This is not even at the heart of secular religion, and not the principal challenge to the Christian church.
The heart of the matter is FUNCTIONAL atheism. There is a rise of people who don’t just spend time thinking about religion and rejecting it. They’re just not thinking about it. There are three things that shape culture: Education, Mass Media, Upper Echelons of legal system. God is/has been systematically removed (or opposed by) these three in our society.
Our culture is feeling the sickness of its disease.
Lack of vision – nothing in culture calling us to be more than we are. Lack of values – producing empty souls. There is a world operating apart from God and finding it can’t handle it without him. Nietzsche – “God is dead and we have killed him. How shall we the murderer of all murderers ever comfort ourselves”
People are ‘metro-spiritual’. People are open to all things spiritual but are not discriminating. People will believe anything and everything. The heart of the cultural challenge has never changed. It is the element of TRUTH. (played clip from Colbert report – ‘Truthiness’). Facts vs feelings. Truth comes from the gut. Actual facts don’t matter. What we feel is true does.We live in ‘wikiality’ – what is true for us is true. Whatever we agree together is true is true. Truth is determined by the tribal community – and culture is breaking down into small tribes.
Played Will Ferrell clip from Talladega Night – what Jesus do you like to pray to? Prayers at table, praying to baby Jesus, conversation about which Jesus you like best and want to pray for.
Challenges that our culture brings
You as an individual can embrace whatever you like as truth – but don’t you dare say that it is something that anyone else/everyone else should embrace. Such things divide culture – and this should not be allowed. The challenge is, if you cannot say what is not Christian then you cannot tell what is Christian. Specific challenges for us in our world:
The Christian faith has lost its public voice.
We’ve become muted. And when we do open our mouths we look like fools. We have lost it over the issue of tolerance. When you take a stand on something being true you are accused of being intolerant. There are three types of tolerance:
- Legal Tolerance: Your right and freedom to believe what you want to believe. Nothing in the Bible, or Biblical characters to take away people’s freedom to believe or worship.
- Social/Relational Tolerance: If Jesus stood for anything he stood for this. He was called a friend of sinners. Always accepted people where they are.
- Intellectual Tolerance: Says that everything is equally good and equally true. This is what the Christian faith rejects – BUT ACTUALLY SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE.
When people talk about tolerance, people mean 1 and 2, but not 3. Yet Christians have given up 3 and lost the right to speak clearly on intellectual issues.
Quote: “We need Christians. Where are they? Here’s all we get from Christians – feeling and philanthropy. Where’s the hard thinking?”
Played Penn’s video blog (Penn says) on the Christian who gave him a Bible. He respects him and thinks he’s a good man because he cares enough to share his faith. Quote: “How much must you hate someone to believe in eternal hell and not tell people about it”
We’ve also lost our language.
Oxford junior dictionary does not contain the word sin.Words that have been taken out: Disciple, saint, abbey, bishop, altar, chapel, Christian, monk, sin.
We expect that in our culture. But what about us? We are also removing these words from our language. Sin -> sickness. Lust -> sensuality. Anger -> Expressing emotions
Christianity -> Happiness, Niceness, earned heavenly reward. Christianity – and the gospel – is being eroded. If you have lost the term evil, it’s difficult to speak about events like 9/11. Following 9/11 Millions flocked to churches, but they didn’t find anything that made them want to stay.
If we’re not careful we’re not going to have anything to offer the world that it doesn’t already have.
At James’ church they held a ‘Text your questions weekend’ Poll on the number 1 topic you’d like to hear discussed. Answer was sin. Developed a series called “wicked” – based on Genesis 1-3.
People do not want our truth to be watered down. It just needs to be presented right. James spoke at Harvard on truth – the nature of absolute truth, and how Jesus claimed to be THE truth. He was expecting a lot of intellectual debate and challenges. He was not met with any. Instead he fielded lots of questions to deepen their understanding. They were hungry to know what truth would mean if it were to exist.
“It is the neglect of dogma and doctrine that makes for dullness. The dogma is the drama” – Dorothy Sayers
Thoughtful christians tend to be more concerned about fitting in and being hip than being prophetic speakers of truth.When we interact with a secular world, people should sense that we are different and have something they don’t have. If we’re not careful we find we have nothing to offer the world. The world is hungry.
The goal is to serve up truth and Jesus raw and unfiltered so that it explodes in people’s lives. We can do cool stuff and be relevant, but there is an end in sight and it’s a bloody cross and a crucified saviour. Being trendy won’t ultimate reach people or change them. Only the truth of the gospel will
